Wealthy Chinese clamour for new visa

Wealthy Chinese with at least $5 million in their pockets are rushing to apply for a new visa scheme which will give them permanent residence in Australia.

Traditionally, wealthy Chinese have preferred to migrate to Canada, the United States and Europe because of better business opportunities. But Australia is aiming to attract China’s millionaires by streamlining the visa process and requiring holders to spend only 40 days a year in the country.

“A lot of people are talking about this visa," said Justin Xu, from migration consulting company Justinfo. “Chinese people want the Australian residency visa in their pocket because the situation in China is very complicated."

Investment banks and local councils are looking to cash in on the new scheme by pitching projects to potential immigrants. Information seminars hosted by banks, accountants and lawyers eager to pick up business from potential investors are taking place across the country.

One state government representative said he had received more inquiries about the new “significant investor visa" in the past three months than about any other visa in the past three years.

An official from another state said inquiries had surged tenfold since Immigration Minister
Chris Bowen
announced the scheme in May. It takes effect from Saturday.

It is potentially a huge market. At the end of last year China had about 1.2 million high net-worth households with a combined 27 trillion yuan ($4 trillion) worth of investable assets, according to a report by Boston Consulting Group and China Construction Bank.

Surveys suggest that more than 60 per cent of China’s millionaires have already emigrated or plan to do so. There are two main drivers of this trend – their children may already live overseas for education purposes, and wealthy Chinese want a more diversified portfolio and a safe haven for their assets.

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It is hard to have a diversified portfolio in China as there is only a fledgling wealth management industry and foreign players are very limited in the products they can offer. Also, in the past few years the Chinese government has introduced big restrictions on the amount of property people can buy.

According to the Victorian government, a seminar it held about the visa attracted 60 Chinese investors. Immigration agents said they had received pitches about a number of proposals designed specifically for the visa, including a JPMorgan $200 million real estate investment fund and a Parramatta council infrastructure project.

Applicants must invest at least $5 million for four years in a “complying investment". These include state and territory government bonds, Australian Securities and Investments Commission-regulated managed funds that invest in Australian assets, or a direct stake in a private company.

The appeal of the new visa is the shorter application process (three months compared with 15 months currently) and there is no upper age limit or minimum level of English proficiency required.

Immigration agents said one of its most attractive features was that holders were required to be in Australia for only 160 days over the four years.

“This visa is aimed at entrepreneurs who want residency but want to stay in China most of the time to run their businesses," said an immigration agent who preferred not to be named.